This is the second of a pair of skibikes for sale built by a fan of this Blog. Sadly they have been virtually unused ever since, skibiking may not be for everybody, it wasn't for him, but if it's for you then this is your chance to buy a ready to ride skibike for much less than the cost of the individual components.

For sale - a pair of Alpine Skibikes mtb conversions for £300 each

Using the design philosophy of Wayne Richards and his ever popular "DIY Skibike Design" series of articles as a skibike builders bible, he religiously followed all the same principles.

As Wayne recommends the frame is a basic Y shaped full suspension frame, this shape makes for very convenient loading on the chairlift; you can even sit on some chairs with the skibike between your legs without causing fouling, just like a pro.

It is a 16” frame measured from the centre of the crank to the seat post, constructed from aluminium it is both strong and corrosion resistant. The overall weight is 13.1 Kg.

For sale - 18" frame skibike

The forks are basic 1 1/8” units, possibly by RST or Zoom with 100mm or 4" of travel with BMX handlebars mounted on an Ahead stem.

The rear suspension is a basic coil sprung, un-damped unit with an eye to eye distance of 155 mm.

For sale - skibike ready to ride for £300

The skis fitted are Brenter a market leading brand which should need no introduction.

Obviously there is nothing state of the art about this combination, but then neither is the asking price, which even includes delivery within the UK.

The beauty of this style of skibike conversion is the way you can upgrade parts to a much better specification easily and very economically by trawling eBay, mountain bike forums and Facebook groups for unwanted new or second hand parts.

This Alpine Skibikes skibike conversion has been priced at £300 for a quick sale, the price includes delivery within the UK. It can be sent to some European locations too, but please ask for a quote first as this could be quite a high sum.

It is rare to find freestyle skibikes offered for sale in the UK, especially a matching pair, stock is limited to these two skibikes, so don't hang about if this is what you need for your next winter holiday.

This is the first of a pair of skibikes for sale built by a fan of this Blog. Sadly they have been virtually unused ever since, skibiking may not be for everybody, it wasn't for him, but if it's for you then this is your chance to buy a ready to ride skibike for much less than the cost of the individual components.

For sale - a pair of Alpine Skibikes mtb conversions for £300 each

Using the design philosophy of Wayne Richards and his ever popular "DIY Skibike Design" series of articles as a skibike builders bible, he religiously followed all the same principles.

As Wayne recommends, the frame is a basic Y shaped full suspension frame, this shape makes for very convenient loading on the chairlift; you can even sit on some chairs with the skibike between your legs without causing fouling, just like a pro.

It is a 18” frame measured from the centre of the crank to the seat post, constructed from aluminium it is both strong and corrosion resistant. The overall weight is 13.5 Kg.

For sale - 18" frame skibike

The forks are basic 1 1/8” units, possibly by RST or Zoom with 80mm or 3" of travel, with BMX handlebars mounted on an Ahead stem.

The rear suspension is a basic coil sprung, un-damped unit with an eye to eye distance of 160 mm.

For sale - skibike ready to ride for £300

The skis fitted are Gaspo PTS99, a brand which has a good reputation for coping well in icier conditions.

Obviously there is nothing state of the art about this combination, but then neither is the asking price, which even includes delivery within the UK.

The beauty of this style of skibike conversion is the way you can upgrade parts to a much better specification easily and very economically by trawling eBay, mountain bike forums and Facebook groups for unwanted new or second hand parts.

Gaspo skis fitted - great for icy conditions

This Alpine Skibikes skibike conversion has been priced at £300 for a quick sale, the price includes delivery within the UK. It can be sent to some European locations too, but please ask for a quote first as this could be quite a high sum.

It is rare to find freestyle skibikes offered for sale in the UK, especially a matching pair, stock is limited to these two skibikes, so don't hang about if this is what you need for your next winter holiday.

Without any shadow of a doubt the SkiBike Tour 2015-16 was exceptional; it was in so many ways both the best and worst since the inception of this website.

It marked my return to Austria's ski resorts, my first visit since 2009 and only my second ever experience of this popular skibiking destination. Things kicked off early in December with the 4 Glaciers Express visit to four Austrian glaciers in as many days. It could have been such a perfect jaunt, in good company with near perfect weather. By the last day I felt like a skibiking god, I owned the mountain; but then came the fall that pretty much ruined the season for me. It was just a random fall of the sort you should laugh off, but it has had long lasting and quite possibly permanent consequences.

4 Glaciers Express - by the last day I felt like a skibiking god

A number of panel beating sessions by Dr. Robert, Croydon's skibiking chiropractor, knocked out enough dents for me to make it to Zell-am-See for the first ever European meeting of freestyle skibikers. It united riders from; Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the five countries that have been pushing the sport forward in recent years. What a fabulously disparate tribe of freaks, weirdos and deviants, I had finally found my tribe.

Skibikers - a disparate tribe

It was a little overwhelming to be in the company of so many of the movers and shakers of the European freestyle skibike movement all at the same time. I have never felt so humbled as to be sat next to a World Master skibob racer at dinner with whom I had previously competed (very poorly) against.

It was also great to see novice skibikers make their first turns on a skibike and to see the expressions of joy (and perhaps relief) on their faces. Blog co-writer Wayne Richards certainly made a name for himself as our chief instructor.

Wayne Richards - made a name for himself as Chief Instructor

Sadly on the last day of the weekend my friend Caspar fell victim to the poor early season snow fall and broke his leg on a tricky section of boiler plate. He was very well cared for at the local hospital in Zell-am-See, local skibike fanatic Maria Boyerl deserves special thanks for helping out as local fixer.

After the skibike weekend I remained in Zell-am-See for a few extra days in the company of Thierry, Stephane and with Wayne as our guide, we toured the extensive skibiking terrain at Saalbach & Hinterglem, Leogang and Kitzteinhorn all places that are rated very highly for skibiking.

We were somewhat beaten back by a great deal of poor weather, whiteout conditions and poor snow conditions which didn't make for the best experience. In fact I don't recall any sunny days for the whole of January, just endless gloom.

No sunny days for the whole of January

Back in France I managed a final ride with Thierry and Stephane, but my heart wasn't really in it, I ended the season early and went home to recover.

A final ride in Frnce before ending the season early

Carl Day wisely once said "freestyle skibiking is not for the over 50's", at the time I couldn't concur, there will always be someone who can buck the trend; my sister is running half-marathons in her seventies. But sadly for this "over 50" he has been proved correct, only in recent days have I had the pleasure being able to feel all my finger tips, for the first time in months of gentle recuperation. I shall count my blessings that nothing broke or I might be dictating this article from a wheel-chair or not even on this plane of existence any more.

Freestyle skibiking - not for the over 50's

For these reasons, I have to accept that freestyle skibike riding is simply too great a risk to take in future. The last six years have been the experience of a lifetime, I have met so many incredible people, have had such wicked wheezes and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

My mother told me that this classic Rolling Stones tune was playing when she went into hospital for my birth; it seems oddly appropriate as the theme for the Blog Tour 2015-16.

I had planned to have one or two mellow solo rides to end the season, but instead found myself heading off to La Clusaz to re-join Thierry and Stephane, why? Because although La Clusaz has been skibike friendly for a number of years, this season the skibike restrictions on (almost) all of the chairlifts have been lifted. The arrival of plenty of fresh snow meant that we would need no excuses to see how this principal would translate into practice.

La Clusaz - the arrival of fresh snow meant we would need no excuses

As locals Thierry and Stephane were guiding me I had only a rudimentary awareness of the route we took. But I spotted some odd anomalies which you need to adjust to at La Clusaz. For example, the Telemix Etale which has both chairlifts and gondolas running along the same cable requires you to be in the gondola section, presumably because you are classed as a pedestrian.
At other chairlifts the lift operators wanted you to travel alone, or as a pair. I think one wanted the skibike on the chair, inside the safety bar, proper old skool leper style; skibiker unclean, unclean, unclean.
It all harked back to the way things were at other ski stations five years ago whilst they were adjusting to a new and strange skibike rhythm. Hopefully as this season progresses the poor lifties will loosen up a little, much as they have done elsewhere.

Hopefully as the season progresses the lifties will loosen up a little

For nostalgic reasons I was quite keen to see the Le Fernuy side of the mountain, as it was one of the first places in France I ever took my skibike to. Le Fernuy was the first area at La Clusaz to open up to skibikes as a niche activity. At the time I stuck to the pistes exclusively, but now appreciate that this quiet back mountain area has some very extensive and expert off-piste riding available, much of it way above my skill level. As if to force the point home, Thierry and I discovered some of the most amazing pockets of untrammelled powder snow just off to the side of the piste.

La Clusaz - amazing pockets of powder just off the piste

So I am very pleased to report that it's all working out just fine at La Clusaz. It's not a place I would normally have considered to go skibiking, it's just that little bit further than the Portes du Soleil for me to get to. But I can now see that with the new chairlift options, La Clusaz is really quite a substantial resort of which I had only scratched the surface previously.

So for the last three days we had waited for a weather window in order to visit to the glacier above Kaprun. This, our last day in Austria, was to be our final opportunity for Thierry, Stephane and I to answer the "Call of the Pow" and see whether the stories we had head of vast powder fields high above the clouds were true. As the morning dawned there were patches of blue sky between the clouds and you could even see the sun, was today going to be our bluebird day?

Zellermoos dawn - was today going to be our bluebird day?

The Kitzsteinhorn base station is just up the road from Kaprun, itself no more than ten minutes from Zell am See. The base station sits in a deep gorge of monumental proportions served by either of two possible cable car systems; which is just as well, because once you are up in the glacier bowl the only other way down would be by helicopter.

Kitzsteinhorn - two cable car systems, the only other way down is by helicopter

We were warned at the base station that it was going to be windy at the top, I have survived Scotland, but there was little to prepare us for the sheer brutally once we arrived.

When we got to the first chairlift the cross winds were trying to wrench my skibike out of my grasp as it balanced precariously below me. The temperature was -9 degrees and with the wind the conditions were truly Arctic in nature. We managed a few runs struggling to see anything beyond a dozen metres. Without any vegetation for reference I was watching out for tiny bits of debris on the piste, just to be able to gauge my speed and direction.

The extreme cold forced us to seek the comfort of the Krefelder Hutte and some gluhwein before reconsidering our decision to remain in such hellish conditions. The forecast was bleak, with more gusty winds predicted, today was just not going to be our day. As if to add insult to injury the skies would clear tonight and tomorrow was going to be sunny and bright; someone else would be in for an amazing bluebird day tomorrow, how typical!

The forecast was bleak, today was just not going to be our day

We retreated down the valley to the relative calm of nearby Maiskogel covered by the same lift pass.

Admittedly we did find some good accumulated powder at the top of the mountain, but unfortunately horrendous ice further down. In short, it was the worst slope I have ever ridden, it didn't matter what technique I tried, none of them worked. For the very first time since the start of the Blog in 2009 I called it quits at 3.30 whilst the lifts were still running. Leaving Thierry as the last surviving member of our clique to answer "The Call of the Pow".

This morning Wayne headed back home and poor Stephane claimed his right to a duvet day leaving myself and Thierry to explore Leogang another resort in spitting distance of Zell am See. Leogang is as well known for its bike park as for its ski resort, so it should come as no surprise to find that it is a skibike friendly destination too.
Our starting point was the Steinbergbahn cable car station at just up the road from Leogang village and about 20 minutes from Zell am See. The Steinbergbahn was to all appearances totally brand new this season, there has clearly been massive investment in this area, if only we had the drive and confidence to do the same in Scotland how different it would be.
We found ourselves at the summit of the Kniestichkogel with the option of following the 88 blue run for an easy warm up. Disappointingly this turned out to be yet another icy mess, so we hastily sought some uplift via our first chairlift. I tentatively asked the operator if this would be OK and his quick witted reply was "Just so long as you have paid for a lift pass". Clearly there were going to be no issues with skibikes on chairlifts at Leogang.

We found a much better run down through the trees on pistes 87 & 92; then the heavens opened and there was plentiful fresh snow everywhere. After so many days of wrestling my skibike for control, skittering and grinding across boiler plate hard ice, it was pure joy to get back that floating sensation, gliding silently across grippy snow. Unfortunately there was insufficient cover to go the whole way down to the valley floor. Assuming winter arrives at some point in 2016, later in the season this run is going to be something special.

Die Alte Schmeide - The Old Blacksmiths at Kniestichkogel

We stopped for lunch at Die Alte Schmeide a quirky museum restaurant full of ancient artefacts. Thierry was no doubt precisely aware of the; name, purpose and function of each and every one of the blacksmiths tool on display. Unfortunately he was a bit too distracted for discourse thanks to the view of all the waitresses wandering around in Lederhosen. French may be the language of love, but Austrian German is most definitely the language of sexy.

source Lederhosen4U.com

After lunch there was a tiny break in the weather with the odd glimpse of blue sky that allowed us to head further across the ridge. On the chairlift we held on to our skibikes grimly, as the wind tried its hardest to wrench them from our grasp and allow the mountain to claim them as its own. I normally find the skibike leash a bit of a faff, but now regretted not having it on me.
Our perseverance gave us the opportunity to head into a glorious powder bowl between the Grosse Asitz and Kleiner Asitz. With the temperature at -9 degrees and with massive wind chill, I managed to grab this hasty snap of his Lordship waist deep powder; but then couldn't get the camera back in my pocket or blue fingers back in their gloves. This 30 second moment was going to cost me three days of frost bitten fingers.

Powder at last - this hasty snap would cost me three days of frost bite

With the light failing rapidly, the wind rising and the weather generally closing in we headed back to the sanctuary of the Steinbergerbahn lift station.

Leogang proved to be as skibike friendly as its reputation, there were no issues at any of the chairlifts including one of the old ones which the operator dutifully slowed for us to allow easier loading. It is on the edge of the circuit that connects with Saalbach & Hinterglemm giving the option of huge touring potential, all be it in more clement conditions.

I have heard a lot about Saalbach and Hinterglemm over the years for being the place in Austria to skibike. Blog commentator Sharon Shinwell highly rates it and Blog writer Wayne Richards has been taking his buddies round the area on skibikes for quite a few seasons now.

Saalbach and Hinterglemm occupy an area conveniently spanning the length of a wide valley, this topography allows for many easy skibike touring possibilities in a day. There are even links across to Leogang and Fieberbrunn which elevate the area on to 3 Vallees scale riding. The predominance of blue runs make the area a cruiser's paradise, whilst there are often red alternatives for the thrill seekers.
As it was only twenty minutes from Zell am See and we had a few extra days to spend in the area, it would have been churlish to miss such an opportunity. Wayne graciously offered to put his guiding skills to use on this, his last day in Austria.

Saalbach - sparse snow cover, just thin ribbons from the snow cannon

We started our day at Vorderglemm, little more than a gondola station and parking lot just down the road from the town of Saalbach. No doubt this is a handy access point into the network of lifts for day trippers and those denied the luxury of accommodation in the town centre. The sole uplift was via the Schonleitenbahn gondola. As can be seen from the image about there wasn't much snow on the hill when we arrived, just thin ribbons provided by snow cannon. But at least there was no shortage of parking spaces.

With sparse snow cover and a somewhat icy start to the day, some of the blue runs were much more tricky than you might have expected; both Thierry and Stephane conceded that some of these blues would have been graded red in France.
We worked our way over to the Kohlmaisgipfelbahn to head above Saalbach town itself then descended into the bustle of this attractive ancient conurbation.

Hinterglemm - some of the blue runs would have been graded red in France

After a short walk we took the Bernkogelbahn heading up towards Hochalmspitze at the top of the valley. We had to change our route after encountering problems using the Spieleck and Hochalm chairlifts without foot skis. This seemed to be the only area with such chairlift issues and Wayne confirmed that this had been the case on his previous visits too.

We stopped for lunch, after which we very briefly met up with Andy Upsylon and Carl Day who, like us, had also decided to stay on after the EUSA Skibike Weekend and explore the area.

Unable to progress any further up this side of the valley, we dropped down to Hinterglemm and took the Zwolfer-Nordbahn to the summit of the Zwolferkogel. The weather was progressively closing in as the afternoon wore on, so we hurried home via the Schattberg and enjoyed the long 2b run back down to Vorderglemm in total whiteout conditions. Arriving back at our base covered from head to toe in snow and soaked through to the skin; tired, wet, but happy with our exploration of the area.

Final descent in whiteout conditions

Saalbach and Hinterglemm offer many kilometres of cruising potential. There is no shortage of gondolas and lots of modern, easy loading and large chairlifts; this is pretty much ideal for the modern freestyle skibiker. There are very few drag lifts and mostly for nursery slopes with the odd bit of expert terrain served by them. With a little bit of map reading you can get around the area unrestricted.

On a sunny day, sauntering down through the woods redolent with the smell of pine trees would be a delight at Saalbach and Hinterglemm.

Is the sport
producing mass produced bikes suitable and reliable enough to go into the
future?

Will the bikes themselves be
sassy enough to make the younger BMX rider or ageing rocker desire to give them
a go?

Will we, as a sport, fit into the
lift company’s slot of taking our money in exchange for a day’s lift pass and
create no more cost to the lift company than that of a skier?

Will we, as a sport, fit into the lift company's slot? - source Thierry Avrillon

Sorry guys and girls, without pointing fingers at anyone
manufacturer or group, sadly I feel we are failing in almost all of the above
questions. It was very evident from the assembled skibikes on view and I include
the majority of home builds in this as well, that we are really in first
generation design mode, having not yet worked out the solution of design to fit
harmoniously in with the skiers and lift systems as well as the basic needs of getting
around the mountain.
As soon as you see skibike front skis being taken off to ensure
the bike fits into a 6 man gondola you know there’s a problem. When you see 10
skibikers in a group taking up 10 gondolas in a row, then you know skiers will
get fed up waiting and the lift company’s eyebrows being lifted. When you see
standard bike frames labelled as a commercial skibike, then after all these
years, why have we moved forward so little in our design thinking?

Why have we moved forward so little with our design thinking?

So why is this the case? Yes there are economics, the
standard bike frame is made in huge numbers and skibikes are not, but unless
we as a group come up with a solution that lets the ski lift company benefit
from our presence ( by taking our hard earned cash for no more effort than a
skier or boarder ) then the sport is probably
doomed to failure.
The current designs we have simply do not benefit the lift
companies, but in most ways have a cost attached by increasing the man power
required to get us to the top of the mountain. We will need to sharpen our
design aims fairly quickly, or once numbers start building of bikes on the
mountain, then be prepared to lose our right to be there, lift companies do not
want extra hassle in increasing numbers. Certainly in my view, that scenario is
rapidly approaching.

So why aren't the current designs morphing towards something
better suited. From speaking to most of the designers and builders it would
seem that two quite disparate historical design routes were taken. One from
Skibob history, where contrary to North America, ski-bobbing in the 60’s was incredibly
popular in Europe, these are highly tuned and engineered pieces of equipment
that do a dedicated job, that of going about as fast as bullet being fired down
the mountain doing the occasional turn. When the local champion ski bobber,
talks of beating professional GS racers such as Hermann Maier by 1.5 seconds,
down a GS course, then these things are exceptionally fast. So we see bikes
such as the SledgeHammer with its leading edge forks and dedicated fine carving
attributes.

SledgeHammer - fine carving attributes - source SledgeHammer

The other route is that of the Bull Skate and to a lesser
extent, Lenz skibikes, where Snow Parks and jumping and tricks and all things
exciting like flips are the design brief. Long travel to soak up the landings
and quite heavy construction to take the impacts.

Yes these bikes do the things they are designed for, but how
many people frequent only the Snow Parks and on an average can you carve down
all the slopes, the answer is very few and no the majority time is spent
sliding sideways on narrow paths and avoiding other skiers. I feel the
manufacturers are missing the true large potential market, that of the average
skier / skibiker who simply want to ride around the resort, this is the real
market, not the niche Park skier or dedicated carver/racer.

So let’s look at a classic skibike that is changing and looking
to the future. The Lenz Launch was the star of the manufacturer’s line ups for
me, if the high foot peg heights came down,
put it on a diet, lose the long travel forks and suspension and lose the high
price, then we might be just seeing a glimpse of the future. Lenz has been
probably around as long as most and probably altered his designs year by year,
the most, you can see this is probably a
bike that is slowly morphing by incremental design, to a point where it is
starting to fit into its skiing and ski lift surroundings. I can remember the
first Lenz designs that were big, bulky and had that real MotoX bike look, with
its long seat. Look at the Lenz Launch now, much slimmer, much much smaller, tiny
bike seat and starting to lose the long unnecessary suspension travel.

If the number of skibikers grow, we are going to have to change our designs

So here it is, the blunt truth guys and girls, if the
number of skibikers continue to grow, we are going to have to change our
designs to be able to participate in the lift system of the future. If we don’t
then I think it’s probably not unreasonable of the lift companies to simply say
no. We have to be able to load the bikes forward facing on chairlifts, either
beside or as some do, between their legs. Already that is possible as with the
three companions one skibike with, we load four riders onto a four man lift. We have to
get a minimum of three riders and skibikes in a six man bubble gondola, get the design right and
it is possible, again we load four bikes or two bikes and three skiers into one six man
gondola. This is just simple good engineering design, it’s not difficult, but
unless we get these key points right, then don’t expect to be welcomed by the
ski companies, many of who are trying to cut manpower and costs back.

Well what can we say other than the first EUSA Skibike meeting was a
great success, putting all those names to faces and discussing the merits of
the sport we love to participate in. For the first time we had participation in
numbers at a single resort. It really showed with the general enquiries from
people who had never seen, nor been offered to havea ride before; all taking up the offer of
having a quick play on the bikes at base station. Kudos and thanks to the
participating manufacturers SledgeHammer and BullSkate for offering up their skibikes in numbers for people
to play on, often for days without charge and going the extra mile to ensure
everyone had a great time.

Thanks to BullSkate & SledgeHammer for their sponsorship

So for me it wasn't just the faces and characters, but what about the hardware such as the frames
and skis, is the sport producing mass produced bikes suitable and reliable
enough to go into the future? Will the
bikes themselves be sassy enough to make the younger BMX rider or ageing rocker
desire to give them a go? Will we as a
sport fit into the lift company’s slot of taking our money in exchange for a day’s
lift pass and create no more cost to the lift company than that of a skier?
Have we now narrowed down a method of teaching newbies just like the ski
federations?

Will the skibikes be sassy enough to make the BMXer give them a go? - source Maria Boyerl

It’s at this stage I have to confess coming away both elated
by the sheer numbers of skibikes being sold and also being converted from
existing frames, but also abjectly disappointed in the way we as a sport are not
learning about the designs of the skibike. In particular having to conform to the
lift system and the requirements of the one thing which our sport is so dependent
on, that of the lift companies.

So let’s split this report into halves. The Good and the
Bad. First the good...

On the home built Ski Bike front, I saw some really nice and
well thought out bikes around the slopes, typically downhill or Enduro bike
frames that had very low and simple rear end designs, with Alpine Skibikes style or
similar ski adaptors, there were others that were total one off designs purely designed
to fit the lifts and to mimic skiers in the way they were skied around the
mountain. These dedicated skibikes certainly seem quite some way ahead of the
manufactured designs and even the best of the mountain bike based designs seemed equal
to the job of getting around the mountain, compared to their commercial
brothers. Choose your frame carefully and choose your ski adaptor, choose your
pegs, get the type of ski right for your needs and you will have as good as most
commercially manufactured skibikes out there, at least at this stage of our evolution.

Self built skibikes - as good as most commercially made skibikes - source Maria Boyerl

It was really interesting for me to look closely at so many different
bikes and how they influenced the riding styles. It’s clear to me now, that
although going a circuitous route of learning, the end result is the same
style. Stood up, balls of their feet on the pegs with slightly bent knees,
leaning forward slightly and simply using weighting on individual feet on the
pedals, to short swing down the slopes. Equally for the sitters there seems a
developing style which ends with the rider sitting low down, downhill foot
swinging forward to initiate the turn and then once going through the fall
line, pressuring the uphill peg to carve the bike through the turn. It’s all a
bit slow motion compared to the “stand up” guys but it gets down the mountain
safely, but limited by the steepness of the slopes.

All of the best riders on anything that was a little more
technical such as poor conditions or steeper slopes, all rode the same way. Without
talking or discussing the technique, simply the ergonomics of riding skibikes and the bio mechanics of the human body, have meant we have all ended up riding
the same way. It was interesting for me personally to be told by a following ski
biker, that from behind, I look the same as a skier would, taking the same
lines and with same feet together relaxed looking style of a very good skier. That
one comment I felt, meant that I personally am heading in the right direction.

The ergonomics / bio-mechanics result in the same style of riding - source Maria Boyerl

We had pretty difficult conditions whilst at Zell am See
with lots of artificial snow and quite hard icy pistes in places at the end of
the day; with large clumps of swept snow on a very hard artificial snow base and
quite technically difficult conditions on the steeper home runs where the
amount of traffic had destroyed the pristine surface of early morning. These
are the conditions that show every fault in the rider and show every fault in
the frame design. Would the design of any one particular style of bike be
preferred on this technically demanding snow. By the end of the three days of watching
and listening, yes almost exclusively these runs were being made on the smaller
bikes with lower peg heights, least suspension travel and with typically wider
skis. Now that surprised me in some ways.

The other question I
asked myself was there a particular style of skibike which the rider spent more
time on with a grin on their face. Again the smaller, the lighter and lower the
bike, seemed to be ridden the most. Again that surprised me in some ways where
I would have thought the longer travel bike based units which have had so much
time honing their ergonomics to suit the human body, would have won through.
Equally the sit on high rider style that carve everywhere, were just no equal
to these type of conditions due to the high COG and limitations of the skis
getting a good edge.

Was there a skibike which the rider spent more time with a grin on their face?

So not wishing to raise such a contentious topic, but this
topic certainly was the winner of everyone's thoughts and had probably the
most discussion of all. Skibike brakes, oops it's in the press now. SledgeHammer has
come up with a very light weight quite small ski brake for its line of skibikes.
My first initial impression was that the “teeth” were so small as to be pretty
ineffective. But on the second day I was asked to teach two absolute novices and one guy who had done one day of ski biking. On one of the bikes was such a brake.
Now
bear in mind that the conditions were quite hard and slick, it was immediately obvious
that the skibike with the brake was preferred and watching carefully it seemed
that the brake wasn't actually “braking” the bike, but instead simply pulling
the rear ski tighter into the snow allowing the ski edge to work better and truly
carve. Also with the small tooth in the snow it gave total stability to the
novice allowing them to balance and feel more secure, where as without, the
rear ski could be seen to be sliding outwards off its edge, at every opportunity.

One has to temper my enthusiasm a little as the SledgeHammer design has probably the highest of COG of all the bikes, has evolved from Skibob design and really needs to be carved everywhere meaning long radius turns.
Together with the snow conditions, meant that the frame design was really not
in a good place with novices on board. However
those small brakes by day 3 had given so much confidence that on a red run that
was 25mm fresh snow over almost ice like base, I had one of these novices following
me about as though it was perfectly normal to be skiing over such horrible conditions.
Proof is in the action and I have to say for all my doubts on braking systems,
these small bladed units seem to help the novice immensely over difficult conditions.
But I do need to repeat, that they suit the particular skibike, would they suit
all, I guess we need to make a few on other bikes to test the theory. From
watching also other riders on other types such as the Firem system, progress
from beginner to expert, the brakes get ditched quite early on as simply
becoming redundant and not needed as one gets the hockey stop and sideways
flick of the rear ski, to slow down.

So that’s the good bits, we are healthy, numbers are
building fast, we seem to be adopting a method of riding, both stood up and
sitting, knowledge is becoming more universal and the lift companies are more
aware of our needs.

So this first ever meeting of the European Skibike Association was most definitely a bitter sweet experience.

The sweet side was meeting so many skibikers in the flesh who had only been identities on the internet before. I had been forewarned that there would be some real freaks, weirdos and deviants present and all I can say is "Hallelujah" I have finally found my tribe.

I have finally found my tribe - source Martin Schwaigert

There was also the added joy of riding with so many people who have been part of this Blog since its very outset, all at the same time and in the same place. In some ways it was overwhelming, I prefer such pleasures to be savoured rather than consumed in a glutinous feast.

The bitter part would be seeing one of my closest friends bent and broken in hospital. Inwardly wishing that I had never shown him the skibike I had built, sat on my patio on a sunny day oh so many years ago.

Furthermore I still haven't fully recovered from the crash encountered during the 4 Glaciers Express tour. I have been forced to ride defensively as each fall is like a mini explosion, I hate riding like a geriatric. I want my mojo back.

The joy of riding with people who have been part of this Blog from its outset